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RP’s Pasta Purchases CSA Shares for ALL Employees

Here’s another reason to love RP’s Pasta. This small Madison company purchased CSA shares for all 24 of their employees for the 2015 season! Their tagline is ‘From Farm to Fork With A Conscience,’ and their conscience extends to their employees’ well-being, too.

“RP’s Pasta is excited to be participating in Los Jalapeños CSA to promote healthy lifestyles for all our employees and their families,” said staffer Anne McHale. “We use local, fresh ingredients in our pasta and value supporting area farmers. CSA makes sense for RP’s!”

For the past two years, FairShare has worked with businesses across southern Wisconsin, and since last fall, in Dubuque, Iowa, to help bring CSA shares to their employees. Among the successes:

At least seven workplace CSA sites have started in Dubuque, Iowa this spring, where the CSA model is fairly new to consumers. Dubuque businesses are working with Small Family CSA Farm in La Farge and Two Onion Farm in Belmont.

Research Products’ consumer division, Aprilaire, came on board as FairShare’s first workplace CSA piloting company in fall 2012, and has set the bar for workplace CSA. CSA is an integral part of their Health Matters initiative, which focuses on creating a culture of health in the workplace. Their Madison office has consistently seen a sign-up rate above 25 percent. They are opening their Poynette site to the general public this year. They work with Wholesome Harvest in Ft. Atkinson.

This is a photo of share number four from the 2014 season at Winterfell Acres, which partners with BioFERM Energy Systems for workplace CSA.

There are several new workplace CSA sites in the Madison area. Bethanee Wright, a new farmer at Winterfell Acres in Blanchardville, hooked up with the employees at BioFERM Energy Systems in Research Park in west Madison (see one of her shares, right). Keewaydin Farms in Viola and Vermont Valley are serving two locations for Exactech this year.

“It’s rewarding to see how excited employees get about the opportunity to take home a box of farm-fresh, gorgeous, organic produce each week,” said FairShare’s Julie Garrett. “Employees love the convenience of workplace CSA, and I hear people express a lot of gratitude for their companies for making the opportunity available.”

The Workplace CSA Toolkit includes survey, graphic and communication templates; how-to instructions; incentive ideas; educational handouts for employees; and examples from other company’s programs to help make it easy to add workplace CSA to company wellness programs. FairShare offers free one-on-one coaching by phone or in person.

To learn more about bringing CSA shares to your workplace, email julie@csacoalition.org or call (608) 226-0300.

From our Facebook Page

Welcome to Jumping Jersey Meats, the lunch stop on Bike the Barns 2018! Amy and Marques Koenig pasture cows for both milk and meat on their picturesque rolling pastures. They go above and beyond in attaining a more sustainable dairy farm, using cover crops, rotational grazing, organic practices, and more.

Check out our interview with Amy to get a sneak peak of the operation. Pro tip: make sure you find her on September 16th, because she is a wealth of information. You won't want to miss the opportunity to chat with such a passionate farmer in person!...#jumpingjersey #dairy #meats #organic #agriculture #knowyourfarmer #bikethebarns #driftless

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About Us

We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Madison, Wis. Our mission is to support and connect farmers and consumers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). We envision a future where CSA is the backbone of a strong local food system and where all families have access to locally-produced, organic food from strong small family farms.